Nigerian soldiers on counter-insurgency operations in Borno State are said to have restored normalcy at Gudumbali. Army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Texas Chukwu, who made this known in a statement, said: “Combined troops of 82 Division Task Force Brigade and 158 Task Force Battalion conducting counter-insurgency operations in northeastern Nigeria, on Friday, September 7, 2018, had an encounter with Boko Haram insurgents in Gudumbali in Guzamala Local Government Area of Borno State.
The encounter took place when the insurgents attacked the community, set some buildings ablaze and quickly withdrew from the community. However, no human casualty was recorded in the encounter.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, have moved to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, two days after Boko Haram raided Gudumbali, a border town around the Lake Chad, killing soldiers and civilians.
On arrival, the service chiefs proceeded to the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole, the Military Command and Control Centre (MCCC) for the counter-insurgency operation in the North East.
Military sources said the service chiefs held a closed-door meeting with some operation commanders and senior military officers at the MCCC, reviewing last Friday’s Boko Haram attack on Gudumbali, headquarters of Guzamala LGA, along the Nigeria-Niger border, where scores of soldiers and civilians, mostly returnee internally displaced persons (IDPs), were killed.
The source disclosed that the “Gudumbali attack by Boko Haram occurred on Friday evening and lasted for about four hours, fleeing residents and military sources around the area said. The insurgents came with high-caliber weapons, fired into the town and attacked the military base. Scores of troops and residents, mostly returnees from IDP camps, were killed but the military has kept mute about the casualties.”
Chukwu, said in a statement that troops foiled the attack, adding that the troops “inflicted overwhelming casualties on the terrorists due to superior firepower, while some of the terrorists fled to the fringes of Lake Chad.”
The statement, which came 48 hours after the attack, said the insurgents came to Gudumbali to “extort and terrorize law-abiding citizens as well as to attack the military base in the town.”
The spokesman maintained that Boko Haram met serious resistance by the gallant troops.
“Efforts are on by the troops to get other fleeing members of the terrorist group,” he said even as he urged residents around the area to be more vigilant.
Friday’s attack marked the return of Boko Haram to Gudumbali, nearly three years after the military recaptured the town from the insurgents.
On November 18, 2015, Boko Haram raided a military base in the town. No fewer than 150 soldiers were killed in the attack. The northern part of Borno, particularly the Lake Chad area, remains a stronghold of the Al-Barnawi faction of Boko Haram believed to have allegiance with the Islamic State of West Africa.
